Tibetan Temples
With the spread of Buddhism, the construction of monasteries developed rapidly and monasteries became the main body of Tibet ancient architecture. Due to the expenditure of a large quantity of financial resources as well as a large amount of material resources, those monasteries are the best embodiments of architectural achievements in Tibet.
There are many mammoth Monasteries with its colossal structures and large area. For example, situated on the midway up the Gepei Mountain at the west suburb of Lhasa, Drepung Monastery is particularly magnificent with undulating buildings, like fish scales and comb teeth-in tight rows. It looks just like a mountain city. These monasteries, large or small, were both places for religious practices and the political, economic, cultural centers of an area, also a concentration place of wealth.
Because of their special and important role in Tibet society, monasteries possess a number of distinguishing features in architecture.
1. In spite of many religious practices, studying Buddhist scriptures remains to be the main task in monasteries. A monastery acts like a university. Routines in Drepung monastery is comprised of four parts: education, religious rites, education administration and sundry affairs. And the monastery is divided into three schools and one Esoteric Buddhism school. These schools are called Zhacang in Tibetan language, which are under the command of the highest administrative organ, Jikang. Architecture of Zhacang is made up of the hall for chanting Buddhist scripture, shrine of Buddha and front courtyard. It also has a large kitchen, which supplies lamas with food and water, and a place where philosophical debates are usually held. In each Zhacang, there are several Kangcuns, Kangcun is the name of a group of lamas who study Buddhist scripture at the basic level. The architecture of Kangcun is called Zhaxia, which is composed of monk house, kitchen, a small hall for chanting Buddhist scripture, inner place for philosophical debates and all kinds of storerooms. The architecture is generally made up of buildings forming a circle, within is a courtyard. Most buildings are mostly three or four stories high. But some are as high as five or six stories. The palace of a monastery is called Cuoqin, which means a large hall for assembly. Jikang (the highest administrative organ) is always placed on the second floor, similar to Zhacang in structure. The Cuoqin palace of Drepung monastery covers more than 2,000 square meters, which can accommodate thousands of monks chanting Buddhist scriptures at the same time.
2. In addition to studying Buddhist scriptures, monasteries provided teachings on language, poetry, medicine, astronomy and calendric calculation. The monasteries monopolized the culture and education in old Tibet society. Labuleng Monastery in Gansu province majored in astronomy. Manba Zhacang specialized in medicine. Mindroling Monastery in Shannan specialized mainly in medicine too. The above-mentioned monasteries are as large as a Zhacang in a large monastery. What’s more, printing, publishing, making of statues and items of Buddha were also under the control of monasteries. Many monasteries even have specialized workshops, for example, Dege monastery in Sichuan province has a Buddhist scripture printing house. The castle at the foot of the Potala palace has two Buddhist scripture printing houses and a workshop for making of statues and items of Buddha. The Natang monastery in Xigaze is actually one of three largest Buddhist scripture printing houses in Tibet. The monastery also collected a set of Tripitaka printed in Tang dynasty and large quantities of printing plates in Tibet language. The Sakya Monastery boasts a collection of over two thousand printing plates, and its Buddhist scriptures hall takes a possession of books more than ten thousand about Buddhist classic works, history, medicine, philosophy, drama, poetry, calendric calculation. and biographies on celebrity. Some monasteries, like Labuleng Monastery, have their own Buddhist scriptures house like a modern library.
3. Many monasteries function like an administrative organ. Tibetan monasteries have their own independent economy and many manors. A monastery is an economic entity. Drepung monastery was the possessor of 185 manors, more than 300 pastures and a cultivated area over 51,000 mu. It commanded more than 20,000 serfs and slaves on pasture. In Tibet, about forty percent of the arable land was under the control of monasteries. In this way, monasteries not only got involved in local administration, but also had to govern land and its people under their command. For example, the Panchen Lama of Tashilumpo Monastery was in charge of twenty one Zong, six ka, and one hundred thousand serfs under his jurisdiction. The Panchen Lama had administrative and judicial rights. The building for the Panchen Lama was constructed just behind the main palace “Cuoqin”of the monastery. In his four stories high building were the place for Yicang, Sangjialiekong and other administrative organs governing its manors. The sunlight palace of the Panchen Lama was at the top story, which included bedroom, a hall for chanting Buddhist scriptures, a Buddha hall and auxiliary rooms. The Pabala Hutuketu of Qiangbalin Monastery in Changdu commanded 58 subordinate monasteries, five Zong, and 7,600 families were under his control. The Gedan of Drepung monastery had such a kind of building too. Therefore, the architecture of Lazhang played an important role in a monastery. Different living Buddha had different powers, even for a Lazhang in an inferior position; he still had certain authority to govern his manors.
The Tibetan monasteries are designed and arranged according to the functions and status of all kinds of buildings, generally, Cuoqin Palace or Zhacang being at the centre. The architectural distribution is very flexible. The Cuoqin palace is not only the center of all kinds of activities but also the center of artistic composition of all the buildings in the monastery. The Buddhist doctrine, commandments and thoughts have a decisive impact on the general assortment of the architectural complex and the interior design of the palaces and halls. For example, the palaces or halls are usually decorated with colors and curtains to create a mysterious, bizarre and motley environment. The internal part is gloomy on the whole, while statue of Buddha is bright and shiny. This help to embody that the world is dim and messy and only Buddha radiance show you the way out.
The Potala Palace ---- Treasure of world architecture
The Potala Palace is stone-wooden structure with a wall as thick as two to five meters. Its foundation is deeply inserted into rock. All the body of the wallis constructed with granite with a height of tens of meters. And the wall is reinforced by iron bars at intervals of certain distance which would make the wall solid and stable to withstand greater earthquakes.
Roofs and window frames of the Potala palace are also wooden structure with eaves stretching out and bent upwards. The tiles are glided the ridges are decorated with glided pray-flags, treasure bottles, Capricorn fish and greenfinch. The building style of the roof of the Potala palace is a typical embodiment the essence of Han dynasty architecture art. The ornaments on the wall are usually bronze pieces with images of eight treasures in Tibetan Buddhism, which possess distinguishing Tibetan features. The columns and beams of the Potala palace are decorated wholly with colorful paintings and magnificent carvings. Inside, there are numerous corridors connecting a great many Buddha halls, so as to make the Potala Palace a mysterious labyrinth for anyone amid it.